STUDY FINDS SENATE FARM BILL EQUITABLE ACROSS CROPS

MAY 2012

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(Posted Thu. May 31st, 2012)

May 31: A new report from the Food and Agriculture Policy Research Institute shows how a key farm bill program being considered by Congress treats crops like corn, soybeans, rice, wheat and peanuts equitably. This study comes at an important time, as the Agriculture Reform, Food and Jobs Act of 2012, which was passed by the Senate Agriculture Committee on April 26, is expected to be considered on the floor of the Senate as early as next week and the House of Representatives is also moving forward on farm bill legislation.

“When you talk about farm bill equity, it is important to consider the market value of each of the covered crops,” said NCGA President Garry Niemeyer. “This research shows how well senators on the agriculture committee have done in maintaining balance and equity while drafting a very complex piece of legislation. We are hopeful that members of the House Agriculture Committee will do the same.”

Niemeyer notes the FAPRI report finds that the Agriculture Risk Coverage in the Senate bill would have a nearly equivalent benefit as a proportion of crop market receipts, varying by only one percent of total receipts between the covered committees. See this chart for an illustration of crop equity.

Second, Niemeyer said, the FAPRI report confirms that the Senate bill provides equity to commodities based on what crops farmers are actually planting, rather than historic base acres. There is a “mismatch” between base and planted acres that is most apparent in the reduction of rice, cotton, and wheat acres in favor of soybeans. This explains the shifts in historic baseline from commodities that have more base acres than actual acres planted by farmers. See this chart for more information.